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The Nightfort
he Nightfort is the largest castle of the Night's Watch along the Wall, the only one whose steps up the side of the Wall were carved into the ice. It sits between Icemark to the west and Deep Lake to the east. The Nightfort figures in some horrific stories. The Commander of the Nightfort has declared himself King on the Wall and wields Answerer, a Valyrian steel sword. History The Nightfort is the largest castle on the Wall, and the oldest, being twice as old as Castle Black. Chronicles from the Nightfort described the ancient war at Sea Dragon Point of the Kings of Winter, the Starks of Winterfell, against the Warg King and the children of the forest. The Nightfort is remembered in scary stories of the north dating back thousands of years. It was there that the Night's King reigned before his name was wiped from the memory of man, and where the Rat Cook served an Andal king (Tywell II Lannister or Oswell I Arryn)5 his prince-and-bacon pie. It is where the seventy-nine sentinels stood their watch, where brave young Danny Flint was raped and murdered, and where King Sherrit called down his curse on the Andals of old. The Nightfort is where apprentice boys faced the thing that came in the night, where blind Symeon Star-Eyes saw hellhounds fight, and where Mad Axe walked the yards and climbed the towers to butcher his brothers in the dark Some stories are described in Archmaester Harmune's Watchers on the Wall. Layout = According to maesters who served at the Nightfort, the castle was rebuilt many times over thousands of years, with only deep stone vaults remaining from its first form. The Nightfort has many towers and a maze of tunnels connecting its vaults and tunnels. Buildings include a bell tower, a rookery, a brewhouse, a library, a dungeon capable of holding five hundred prisoners, a bathhouse, an armory, and a forge. The kitchen is a stone octagon with a domed roof and contains a stepped well. Unknown to most there is a magical gateway known as the Black Gate. It is a hidden subterranean gate that allows passage to the other side of the Wall and is as old as the Wall itself. It is set deep in a wall of the well at the center of the kitchens and is made of white weirwood with a face on it. The face is old, pale, shrunken, and wrinkled with white eyes. The door glows. When someone approaches the Black Gate, the eyes open. They are white and blind, and then the door asks, "Who are you?" A man of the Night's Watch must repeat a part of his vow, "I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men." The door will open then, saying, "Then pass." The door's lips open wider and wider still until nothing remains but a great gaping mouth in a ring of wrinkles Category:The Wall Category:The Night's Watch